Marc Parlange, man from Down Under, inaugurated as URI's 12th president

SOUTH KINGSTOWN — Marc Parlange truly is the man from Down Under, and on Thursday he was inaugurated as the University of Rhode Island’s 12th president.

Parlange, who arrived here with his wife, Mary, a year ago, has been a ubiquitous presence on campus. He succeeds David M. Dooley, who retired in June 2021.

He has run with ROTC cadets, shared a meal in the dining hall, tagged sharks with the Bay Campus team and visited faculty in their labs.

And he truly believes that being president of the state’s land and sea grant university is the best job in the world.

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Parlange 'a friend and a role model'

In speech after speech, colleagues described him as a man of formidable energy. Every day, he runs 10 miles. He and his wife hiked a chunk of the Appalachian Trail and climbed Mount Katahdin, the highest mountain in Maine.

He has also reached out to the Narraganset tribe and asked them to create a land acknowledgment, which recognizes that the land URI occupies belonged to the Narraganset nations and the Niantic tribe.

“He is a servant leader,” said Tom Ryan, the former CEO and chairman of CVS and past chairman of the URI Foundation. “This type of leader is unselfish. They make people around them better. They know what they don’t know. And they have an insatiable desire to improve. This is the kind of leader we found in Marc Parlange and we hit the daily double with Mary.”

Grace Kiernan, the president of the Student Senate, remembers how nervous she felt walking into a dinner with bigwigs at the Bay Campus. When Parlange greeted her, she immediately felt she belonged.

“He became a friend and a role model,” Kiernan said during Thursday’s ceremony, attended by five college presidents, Gov. Dan McKee, Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea and Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos. “He is the true definition of a Rhody Ram. He bleeds blue.”

Dressed in a deep blue academic robe, Parlange spoke with a slight Australian accent and smiled throughout a ceremony steeped in tradition, including the awarding of the university’s gold medallion.

He chose academia over pure research

As a young man, Parlange said he had two choices: embrace pure research (he is internationally known for his work in hydrology and climate change) or choose an academic career.

He chose academia because, he said, it offers “the greatest potential for positive change.”

“New ideas bounce from the classroom into the world,” he said during his speech. “At a university, the new can sit with established tradition.”

Parlange, who is 59 and has two sons, comes to URI from Monash University in Melbourne, where he was provost and senior vice-president. Monash is so remote that Antarctica is the next stop.

He has taught on three continents – North America, Europe and Australia – and conducted research in Burkina Faso.

He holds a bachelor of science from Griffith University and a master of science and Ph.D from Cornell University.

He began teaching as an assistant and associate professor at the University of California at Davis and was a professor and department chair at Johns Hopkins University.

As someone comfortable doing field work, he keeps a hard hat in his office.

Parlange logs a busy first year

In his first year here, he has worked to expand URI’s role in the “blue” economy, moved to renovate the Bay Campus, developed new doctoral programs and celebrated the opening of a residence for students in the talent development program, which recruits students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

“We need to think beyond the classroom,” Parlange said. “We believe URI will become a global research institution.”

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Rugby, he said, is a symbol of how forward-thinking organizations work. In this sport, the team moves as a unit. Players can pass the ball back and forth but there is no forward passing.

“The team is constantly adapting,” he said. “The concept is we operate best as a team. It’s a powerful model for achieving our goals.” 

Linda Borg covers education for the Journal.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Marc Parlange, RI native, inaugurated as URI's 12th president